Which recipients can access funding sources provided by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act? For example, are specific funding programs available to states, municipalities, etc.?

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (the “IIJA”), referred to by the White House as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill (the “BIL”), was enacted on November 15, 2021.[1] This legislation provides several funding opportunities to which state, local, tribal, and territorial governments will have access. Shortly thereafter, the White House released the first edition of its BIL guidebook, which provides guidance on these funding opportunities, their respective implementation, and how recipients can access funding sources.[2]

The White House announced that it:

created a guidebook for state, local, tribal, and territorial leaders. This guidebook is a roadmap to the funding available under the law, as well as an explanatory document that shows, in as much detail as currently available, program-by-program information.[3]

The White House “has also published an accompanying data file that allows users to quickly sort programs funded under the law by fields like agency, amount, recipient, or program name.”[4] This data file may help to identify specific funding opportunities for recipients in state, local, tribal, or territorial governments.[5]  

The data file also provides pertinent information on the 380 programs that will receive BIL funding. The data file links important information specific to each funding opportunity, such as the issuing federal agency, the administering bureau, the funding amount, and the period of availability.

In addition, recipients should consider reviewing Grants.gov, which centralizes federal grant opportunities and has a Search Grants feature that allows users to conduct advanced searches for grants based on their specific priorities. Recipients can set up appropriate search parameters to alert them to any additional notice of funding opportunities ("NOFA") from the BIL, as indicated within the BIL data file. Grant.gov also offers various training resources found under their Grants Program webpage and their Applicant Training webpage that could prove helpful in finding grant programs related to the BIL.

Furthermore, the BIL guidebook provides information on each and every program listed in its accompanying data file, enabling recipients to review available funding opportunities, identify whether specific funding opportunities align with their jurisdictions, and establish measures to monitor these funding opportunities through Grant.gov, with the goal of pursuing these funds when the government makes them available.